


follow the stars

by Runespoor



Category: DCU - Comicverse, Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Gen, characters in urgent need of a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-28
Updated: 2012-09-28
Packaged: 2017-11-15 05:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/523540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runespoor/pseuds/Runespoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cassandra Cain meets Anthy and they are catapulted in the past. As you do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	follow the stars

**1\. follow the stars**

Anthy barters them safe passage and food for the night; Cass looks on from a few steps removed – she can’t hear the words exchanged and she wouldn’t be able to understand the language even if she did, but bodies say so many things on their own, it’s easier to follow the discussion this way. 

When the other girl turns back to her and smiles, Cass nods and approaches. Anthy falls into step next to her, and she walks more quietly than anyone Cass has met who didn’t wear a mask.

The group of people they’re accompanying give Cass a cursory glance, then dismiss her. She doesn’t look like a threat, and the people in the caravan are diverse enough that she’s not the arresting sight she might be elsewhere. There’s a pair of honey-haired brothers and pale eyes, and two families with brown skin (one are merchants, Cass thinks, their camels are heavy with trunks, maybe spices or silk; the other aren’t, though their one camel is burdened yet more heavily, they have the harassed and hopeful look of people who have had to look for better somewhere else), and among the experienced riders and guards of the caravan, there are several men who come from beyond the Sahara desert.

When the night falls and the camels are stopped for the night, and a fire started at the centre of the encampment, Anthy takes her hand and pulls her among the others, until they receive a share of the food. 

It’s a play on the travellers’ sentiments. They’re both young and slight and alone, and it makes people want to protect them. Cass munches on her flat bread – covered with delicious seasoning, even if there wasn’t anything else to eat you’d be happy to make a meal of it – and thinks that Anthy doesn’t like that any more than she does. But she knows how to use it, and without Anthy Cass would be entirely lost. 

Anthy is the only one who knows what happened to them, and she’s the only one who might be able to get them back. 

One of the daughters from the immigrant family has slipped up next to Anthy, and is now engaging her in a hesitant conversation. Cass watches her from the corner of her eye. She’s got questions: she’s scared and burning with dreams of how she wants things to be and afraid she’ll be disappointed, and she thinks Anthy, maybe, will put her fears to rest. 

Anthy smiles and laughs, but the other girl’s body language doesn’t relax. Anthy is as aware of it as Cass, but Cass doesn’t have the words to comfort the girl. Anthy probably does, but she doesn’t want to lie, or she doesn’t want to be obligated to lie, or she want to make herself be nice and pretend the world is a safe and comfortable place. The girl – whose name is Vari, Cass catches – and Anthy are still chatting, though.

At the moment Vari is asking a question about Cass – Cass knows from the way she’s tilting her head and glancing at Cass from under her eyelashes – and Anthy turns toward her.

“She wants to know how it is, where you’re from.”

An image of Gotham flashes through Cass’ mind, of its glassy walls and its mazes of stony gargoyles, of the way the sky descended so low into the city, and the cars and the people and the music mingled with her coursing from a roof to another. 

“High. Dark. Glittering. Lots of people.” 

Over their heads the night sky stretches, its stars sparkling brighter than anything Cass has ever seen. The fire crackles, and around them the travellers are talking, still. 

In a sudden inspiration, Cass points at the sky, then gestures at the camp. “Like this. But on the ground.”

*

After the caravan is attacked people look at Cass different, with respect, but they don’t change around Anthy.

Cass thinks they’re wrong. Anthy lies with her body as easily as Tim or Bruce, but Cass can see: she’s the one with a weapon.

*

**2\. rules of engagement**

The sword rests on the ground between them, where Cass put it down. She’s huddled back now, her shoulders hunched in a way that make her look younger, and it’s clear she’s not going to come any closer.

Anthy makes no move to reach for it. 

“Technically, we’re engaged now,” honesty spurs her to say, helpfully. That a streak of mischief runs through it is inconsequential. 

Cass doesn’t look up. The sword worries her a lot more than the engagement. With reasons: Anthy’s going to waive that clause aside. 

“I… haven’t used a sword in a long time,” Cass says. “Since he made me.” 

Anthy shifts. 

“I swore myself I wouldn’t, ever.” Her arms drop by her side, and she looks up at Anthy, eyes narrowed and intense. “But… I had to save them. And then - the sword was there.” With a jerk of the chin, she gestures at Anthy. 

Anthy’s lips are dry. She passes her tongue over them, and asks her question. “Why did you do it?” 

“Instinct,” Cass says, mechanically, and her arms wrap around her knees again, and her chin rest on her knees. 

They spend a long time staring at the flames flickering, thinking about the past.


End file.
